New Nigeria museum fetes late Afrobeat singer Fela

LAGOS, Nigeria — "FELA LIVES," reads the Gothic-lettered tattoo on the back of one of the sons of the legendary Afrobeat singer from Nigeria. Fela Anikulapo-Kuti died 15 years ago but his name seems to be mentioned more now than ever.

Radio stations across Africa's most populous nation continue to play his trumpet-and-saxophone-infused songs, the girlish cries of his female backup singers ringing out of tinny speakers in crowded buses. Leaders he linked in songs to corruption remain close to the levers of power in this oil-rich but poverty-stricken country. He's a legend among unemployed gang members and academics alike and was the subject of a smash Broadway musical produced by some of the biggest celebrities in the U.S.

Now, the family house where his remains lie has become a government-endorsed museum that offers a look inside his life, as well as the challenges still facing Nigeria years after his death.

"In one of his songs, (Fela) said it takes 10 years for us to catch up to his message," said Theo Lawson, the architect who helped design the new museum. "The expectation, I think, would be that the people would rise up and demand their rights and this didn't happen because everybody was scared.

"Fela's been dead for 15 years and unfortunately, we're still where we are. It's probably longer than he anticipated."

Fela created Afrobeat in the late 1960s, mixing the rhythm of jazz, the catchiness of pop music and traditions of African mysticism into 10-minute-long songs riffing on politics and sex in a nation only recently freed from colonialism. He embraced the idea of pan-African leadership and openly criticized the military rulers who revolved in and out of power in Nigeria when others had been cowed into silence.

Africa : Centre of the world"

— Fela Anikpulakpo-Kuti

About Felabration

Felabration is an annual festival in its 15th year. Created by Yeni Anikulapo-Kuti, Felabration has grown from a day's celebration of the icon Fela Anikulapo-Kuti to a week long of events clinching the nod of approval from the Lagos State Government into partnering and incorporating the festival into the Lagos State’s Event Calendar. Now a weekly fiesta, it has become an international tourist attraction attracting music lovers all over the world.
Felabration has over the years been themed the ‘Baba 70’, ‘the Black President’, ‘Viva Africa’, ‘Buy Africa’ and this year is ‘Africa : Centre of the World’. That is the title of one of the masterpieces of Fela released in 1979 which featured Fela and Roy Ayers, a renowned jazz artiste and it is centred on his heartfelt call to Africans to take their place as the core of the world affairs.​
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About Fela Anikpulakpo-Kuti

Fela Anikulapo-Kuti simply called Fela, was a Nigerian multi-instrumentalist musician, a composer, pioneer of afrobeat music, human rights activist, and political maverick. Fela was born Olufela Olusegun Oludotun Ransome-Kuti in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria to a Yoruba middle-class family.
His mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti was a feminist activist in the anti-colonial movement and his father, Reverend Israel Oludotun Ransome-Kuti, a Protestant minister and school principal, was the first president of the Nigerian Union of Teachers. His brothers, Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti and Prof. Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, were both renowned medical doctors who through their profession contributed immensely to the health sector as well as the social and political emancipation of Nigeria.

More information

The Musical Concerts will take place from Tuesday October 16th – Sunday October 22nd 2012. Artistes from all over the world will be on the bill to perform for those 6 days.
The Senior Secondary Schools Debate, the debate which is in its 2nd edition will have senior secondary students from private and public schools in Lagos. The topic for the debate is “Social Media in Africa; good or bad”. This will take place on 9th October 2012 at the Freedom Park, Lagos. The maiden edition was won by Vivian Fowler School for Girls.
The Symposium tagged The Fela Debates with the “Corruption and the Next Generation”. This will take place on Monday 15th October 2012 which incidentally is Fela's birthday.